never forgotten
This day 8 years ago began as just another day. Aside from having been named Miss Teen USA 2001, moving from Missouri to New York City to live in a riverside apartment with Miss Universe and Miss USA as my new roommates and being granted access into events and premieres with red carpets and celebs, the eleventh day of September in 2001 started the same as the fourteen days prior. No wait, it didn't. The Westside Highway leading cars to the tip of Manhattan was noisier than the previous days. My alarm sounded and my room was quickly filled with sirens from below. I found myself peering down from my glassy fish bowl on the 31st floor of Trump Place to see a staggering number of ambulances and cop cars cramming the highway that ran next to the Hudson River.
From there, the day quickly became a nightmare for everyone watching on the news as the burning buildings, one then the other, were hit by planes. It felt like my heart sank to a depth in my body that had never been touched before as I figured out that from my bedroom window facing the Jersey shore, I could see Tower 1 burning.
Confusion set in, phone lines were jammed and for once, the millions living and working in Manhattan felt alone. Singled out in some strange way. Ominious yet present, the morning of the 11th became engraved in our minds as the worst day since Pearl Harbor to most Americans. From the bad came overwhelming, choke you up goodness from every day people in this country. The news made all of us unite as if this attack had happened in everyone's neighborhood. It did. For once, I felt that we all wanted the best for every single person in this country.
With my title, I did something too. I had to. There was no other way to get through the undeniable feeling of loss. I served food down at Ground Zero at an Italian Restaurant, Nino's, that closed their doors to the public and became the food place for the iron and rescue workers who needed a meal. I'll never forget those days of listening to their stories, witnessing their autographed helmets from Hilary Clinton, Snoop Dogg and other random people who took the time to visit them as well. They cried with each other, laughed at others' tales of heroism and became a unit of heroes that I had the priviledge of meeting.
All of us changed on this day, eight short years ago. One event in human history altered all of us forever. For those we lost and for all of the good that took place despite such tragic causes, you remain in my prayers. Although the cause was nothing shy of heartbreaking loss and senseless horror, the effect was as great as that. It was both seen and felt. No words can fully express how it made any of us feel. New Yorkers united, Americans united and I was that much prouder to have been selected to represent the youth of America in such a monumental yet devastating time.
From there, the day quickly became a nightmare for everyone watching on the news as the burning buildings, one then the other, were hit by planes. It felt like my heart sank to a depth in my body that had never been touched before as I figured out that from my bedroom window facing the Jersey shore, I could see Tower 1 burning.
Confusion set in, phone lines were jammed and for once, the millions living and working in Manhattan felt alone. Singled out in some strange way. Ominious yet present, the morning of the 11th became engraved in our minds as the worst day since Pearl Harbor to most Americans. From the bad came overwhelming, choke you up goodness from every day people in this country. The news made all of us unite as if this attack had happened in everyone's neighborhood. It did. For once, I felt that we all wanted the best for every single person in this country.
With my title, I did something too. I had to. There was no other way to get through the undeniable feeling of loss. I served food down at Ground Zero at an Italian Restaurant, Nino's, that closed their doors to the public and became the food place for the iron and rescue workers who needed a meal. I'll never forget those days of listening to their stories, witnessing their autographed helmets from Hilary Clinton, Snoop Dogg and other random people who took the time to visit them as well. They cried with each other, laughed at others' tales of heroism and became a unit of heroes that I had the priviledge of meeting.
All of us changed on this day, eight short years ago. One event in human history altered all of us forever. For those we lost and for all of the good that took place despite such tragic causes, you remain in my prayers. Although the cause was nothing shy of heartbreaking loss and senseless horror, the effect was as great as that. It was both seen and felt. No words can fully express how it made any of us feel. New Yorkers united, Americans united and I was that much prouder to have been selected to represent the youth of America in such a monumental yet devastating time.
